manning up!

[Laurence Horn]

Nice "On Language" column from Ben in the Times on the above locution:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/magazine/05FOB-onlanguage-t.html

I agree that the K-Rod case at the start of the piece involves the
same machismatic "man up" that occurs in the various commercials, and
I like Ben's take on why it's the light beer commercials that are the
most likely site:

===========
"Man up, because if you're drinking a light beer without great
pilsner taste, you're missing the point of drinking beer." (Light
beer ads often amp up the masculinity, perhaps to compensate for
their watered-down product.)
===========

--except that I'd argue further that if you're drinking a light beer
at all, you're missing the point of drinking beer.  And I was
interested in Mike Timlin's involvement in the "Cowboy Up" campaign
on the Red Sox during the summer of '03, which I'd always associated
with Kevin Millar and only Kevin Millar.  (No relation to Miller
Lite.)

But it might be worth noting that the occurrence in football contexts
like the one Ben cites from the Texas high school coach, ""We're
expecting them to use an eight-man front with their secondary manning
up on us", is used specifically to contrast that option of going
man-to-man with the alternative possibility of a zone defense, and in
this sense a similar locution has been used for quite a while in
basketball contexts. (There are other variants, like a box-and-one,
but primarily you play the guy (male or female) or you're responsible
for a sector of the field or court.)

Does anyone know whether the football or basketball usage came first?
I'd have guessed basketball, but it's only a guess.

LH

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